4th and Goal Every Day: Inside the Alabama Football Dynasty

by Phil Savage, Ray Glier

Alabama has won four national titles in eight seasons. Fans and college football programs all over the country want to know, “How does Alabama do it?”

4th and Goal Every Day is a look through the eyes of football lifer Phil Savage who provides a unique, 360-degree perspective on Alabama football from his current role as the radio color analyst for the Crimson Tide Sports Network.

With anecdotes from from his growing up days in Alabama when the Tide won numerous championships in the 1970’s through his 20-year career in the National Football League as a coach, scout and general manager, Savage gives an incredible view of what makes Coach Nick Saban and his teams so successful on an annual basis.
Savage has provided color commentary for every Alabama game since 2009. He initially worked with Nick Saban when they both joined the Cleveland Browns' coaching staff in 1991. Over the past 111 games, Savage has enjoyed an up close view of the Alabama program’s dedication to recruiting, its commitment to practice and devotion to fundamentals.

You cannot find another person who can intelligently discuss Alabama football in public better than Phil Savage. Together with Ray Glier, this in-depth story chronicles how the Crimson Tide re-emerged as one of the true superpowers in college football.

With a Preface by Alabama Football Coach Nick Saban and a Foreword by ESPN's College Gameday Host Rece Davis.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Football

336 pages, Hardcover

Published August 29, 2017

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the recent long run of success by the Alabama Crimson Tide football program, this book looked like the perfect source of information on why the Tide has been the most successful it had been since the days of Paul “Bear” Bryant. The author, Phil Savage, certainly has the pedigree to write about this. His long career in football as a coach, scout and general manager, as well as his current position as a radio analyst for the Crimson Tide certainly places him in a position to intimately know the workings of the football team.

The reader will learn about Coach Nick Saban (for whom the author worked as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns) and his involvement of every aspect of the football program. From recruiting to practice to film sessions to game day, the reader will be given a guided tour inside the program, learning about it from coaches, players (both current and former) and Savage himself as he has been connected to Alabama football since he was a very young fan.

My reservation about the book is that Savage’s style of taking the reader on this tour comes across to me as arrogant and elitist. Throughout the book, Savage reminds the reader of Alabama’s recent string of championship and near-championship seasons and whatever part of the program is being discussed, well, it is just the best way to approach the task. For a comparison, living in an area where there are a lot of New York Yankee fans, this sounds much like them – we are successful and we will constantly remind you. There is no argument that Alabama has been the best college football program for the last decade. I was just hoping to learn why it was, not to have this fact be constantly repeated through the book.

Despite my misgivings about this writing style, I do give the book a passing grade for the insight, the knowledge and the details that Savage shares with the readers. This book is one that every Crimson Tide fan will want to read – but Auburn Tiger fans may want to think twice before buying.

I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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[Max Walker]

Overall, I really didn't like this book for a few main reasons. First, the author talked way too much about himself in a book that was supposed to be about Alabama and Nick Saban. Furthermore, the stories he did have about himself came across as bragging and egotistical as opposed to informative and relevant. Second, the book constantly jumped around to many different points in Saban's career. So, the book never really felt settled and you never really got to learn a lot about a specific era. Third, the book overall just lacked flow as it was mostly random stories and ideologies from Saban and did not feel connected. In my opinion, this book seemed like a rough first draft from a guy who wanted to get his name out there in the college football world. 5.8/10.

[Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Goodreads Giveaway
The book is interesting but living in the SE all of the material has been much discussed on TV and radio and written about.
The book has a lot of repeated material that I found disrupting to the flow of the book. Also assistant coach Burns name is "Burns, Saban's longest serving assistant coach" every time he is referred to. At least twice, the author comment that more will be covered about Burns later but that never happens.
for the casual fan of college football or Alabama football, the book will be interesting. Some of the more interesting parts are the scouting reports.
At times, I felt the book was more about Phil Savage than Nick Saban and Alabama football.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

4th and Goal Every Day: Alabama's Relentless Pursuit of Perfection by Phil Savage and Ray Glier (St. Martin's Press 2017) (796.33263)(3527).

This was a very interesting look at the University of Alabama football culture under Nick Saban. Saban has installed a system based on computer analytics as invented by Tom Landry and Gil Brandt of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty and which those two taught to very young Bill Belichick of the Cleveland Browns and his even younger protege and assistant Nick Saban.

Everything in the University of Alabama football universe is scalable, Nick Saban has taught the state. Once the coaching staff decides exactly what they want in a player at a particular position, they create a template (size, weight, speed, intangibles, etc.) to apply in future recruiting. Enough templates, and Saban can know precisely what type of player Alabama needs to recruit to fill every position on the team.

And Saban scales everything. “Trust the process” is a Saban mantra.

This book demonstrates the advantage that continuity in a program brings.

It also makes me hyper-aware of how utterly incompetent the sports administrators at the school I pull for have been in their attempts to right the failed course the team is sailing.

I am not an Alabama football fan, but this book has at least turned me into an admirer.

My rating: 7.25/10, finished 4/26/21. I purchased a HB copy in like-new condition for $3.00 from McKay's Books on 4/14/21. (3527).

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[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I drank the Kool-Aid. As an unrepentant fan of college football, I couldn't resist looking behind the curtain at the best in the business. This breezy read gives some interesting insights into the daily habits and philosophies of arguably the greatest coach of all-time. Nick Saban is a fascinating character, deserving of a closer look. However, the book is quite repetitive, full of redundancies, and fluff. Bama fans will love the book, while the rest of us could've likely gained these insights at a bar over a couple of beers with the author.

[John Detrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can get past Savages man crush on Sabin

Lots of very good tid bits on the college game . The authors over the top praise of Sabin got old in a hurry and leant a sameness to nearly everything he discussed. I found the recruiting process very interesting and very cut and dry in that if you're not 6' 6" and 260# and run 4.6 you're not Tide material. The book was just OK for me.

[Eli Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, Phil Savage does an excellent job of giving the reader a behind the scenes look at the system which Nick Saban implemented at Bama and which puts them in position to compete for a national title year in and year out.

If you are interested in 'how the sausage gets made' and not just the end result of W-L record it is highly likely that you will enjoy this book as much as I did

[Brad Powlen · Rating 3 out of 5]

More about the author than the subject

Book started strong with details about recruiting and peace for Saban. Instead of giving more insight into Saban's process and history learning from the greats, the author spends more time on where he comes from and the state of Alabama. That's kind of interesting but not really what you expect. It's a middle of the pack read and I enjoyed the beginning chapters but lost interest towards the end.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the success of the Alabama football program under Coach Saban. This goes into everything from recruiting to preparing for practice and also for games. Of course, this book came out in 2017 so much has changed in college football and some of his assistants have left to become head coaches but they are successful as well. An interesting look into Saban and Alabama football. I received this book from Netgalley.com

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting behind-the-curtain look at the Alabama football program under Nick Saban written by Savage, who has been around Saban on-and-off since his days in Cleveland and is now colour analyst for Crimson Tide radio. Fascinating stuff. The way Saban does things, you can see why he's been so insanely successful.

[H Warren Holladay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Phil Savage

This is an interesting and at times tedious read. I found it to be as much auto biography as explanation of Alabama football. There were aspects that were covered quite a bit and a number that were left out. Without naming names it would be interesting to understand how some coaches survived long stints with Coach Saban and others did not.

[Scott Holstad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. A more objective author could have done something with this, but this blindly slobbering homer is incapable of writing anything more than overly dramatic, borderline mythological hero worship. A little stunning coming from a veteran professional whom one would hope would be mature enough in his career to not sound like a teenage fanboy. Not recommended.

[Zach Holte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered how Alabama built their own legacy team? This book tells you how Alabama built their whole legacy and where all the coaches started at. The book is a little slow but picks up and keeps you reading. I would prefer this book for all of the people like to watch football.

[Kristen Wiles Folk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited about this book, as I’m intrigued by how Coach Saban has maintained such success. However, the author likes to talk about himself a lot in the book. It was difficult to get through at times. I would’ve loved more stories about Coach Saban and his players.

[David Hosier]

I didn't finish this book because it was kind of disjointed and repetitive. I was interested in a little modern history of the Nick Saban coaching tree, but this author was way too close to his source.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into Nick Saban and The Process, but was a bit too fanboy for me.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic inside scoop on the Alabama program. I do not understand some of the negative views. Extremely informative, nuts and bolts stuff.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an avid Alabama football fan, I loved reading this book about the Crimson Tide's "relentless pursuit of perfection."

[Ted Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on Nick Saban and an inside look at the man behind the dynasty

[Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savage’s book was mildly interesting with some interesting insights into one of the greatest dynasties in NCAA history. Savage talks about the explicit body type and athletes the program looks for, which is fascinating. Yes, they’re willing to take some chances, but they’re not interested in drifting too far. They’re also very flexible to adjust their play style as the game as progressed. While some sections were interesting, lots of sections were pretty self-indulgent, talking about the successes that HE had with the program and the things HE had done.

Self-indulgent and mildly insightful. I would recommend some sections and passages of the book, but I wouldn’t recommend the whole book to a friend.

[Jonathan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good comprehensive book on what has made nick saban and Alabama’s football team successful over the past 10 years
The author, Phil Savage, runs through Nick Saban’s career and coaching ideals, from how he recruits, to how he judges what position a player should be, and even nicks film room habits and his never needing search for perfection
I would not recommend this book to the average reader or even to the casual football fan
This is a coaches book
I believe this book should be read by every football coach, high level football fans, and football prospects who want to get into the mind of what a winning organization does and looks for

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I'm a huge football fan - I live and breathe football. While the book was interesting it just didn't have that pizzazz! for me. I enjoy watching the team play - they are so exciting. Not a real fan of Nick Saban but then I grew up with the likes of Tom Landry, my hero. This book is fact filled and a joy to read.

Thank you to Goodreads for a copy for my review.

[Brent Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look inside the Alabama program and mind of Coach Saban. Full of very interesting history as well. Must read for Alabama fans/die hard college football fans.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an Alabama alum, Phil Savage's effusive praise of the Crimson Tide naturally won me over. Roll Tide!

[Bryson]

I liked this book because it gave information about Alabama's football team and if you like them you will also like this book.